‘I stood in awe of her’: A love letter to his wife carrying a baby without a brain

Imagine a doctor telling you your unborn baby girl doesn’t have a brain 19 weeks into a pregnancy. Then try to imagine carrying her – or your wife carrying her – to term anyway.

That’s what Keri Young decided to do, just 30 seconds after “the worst moment of her life.” And her husband, Royce Young, wrote a love letter to her on Facebook on Feb. 17 to tell the world about her and her decision.

Keri Young is seven months pregnant with the their second child, who they decided to name Eva. The Oklahoma couple also has a 2-year-old son named Harrison and Royce Young writes about basketball for ESPN, according to the Huffington Post. When he was covering the NBA All-Star Weekend in New Orleans he met Jarrius, an “awesome kid” who needs a liver transplant. Jarrius, who wore a shirt that said “It Takes Lives To Save Lives,” inspired Royce Young to share a love letter he wrote for his wife, instead of keeping it private as he normally does.

“I thought back to the moment where we found out Eva wasn’t perfect, and how literally 30 seconds after our doctor told us our baby doesn’t have a brain, somehow through full body ugly crying, Keri looked up and asked, ‘If I carry her full term, can we donate her organs?’” Royce Young wrote in a Facebook post. “There I was, crestfallen and heartbroken, but I momentarily got lifted out of the moment and just stood in awe of her. I was a spectator to my own life, watching a superhero find her superpowers.”

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“In literally the worst moment of her life, finding out her baby was going to die, it took her less than a minute to think of someone else and how her selflessness could help. It’s one of the most powerful things I’ve ever experienced,” he continued. “In the eight years we’ve been married (and 15 years together) I’ve had a lot of moments stop me in my tracks where I thought, ‘holy crap, this woman I’m married to, lucky me.’ But this one was different. It hit me that not only am I married to my very best friend, but to a truly remarkable, special human being.”

Eva still kicks, rolls and moves in Keri Young’s belly, Royce Young wrote. And that makes it harder.

“She’s reminded every moment of every day that she’s carrying a baby that will die. Her back hurts. Her feet are sore. She’s got all the super fun pregnant stuff going on,” Royce Young wrote. “But the light at the end of her nine-month tunnel will turn into a darkness she’s never felt before a couple hours or days after Eva is born. She’s the one that is going to deal with all that comes with having a baby – her milk coming in, the recovery process, etc., but with no snuggly, soft, beautiful newborn to look at to remind you that it was all worth it.”

But Royce Young says even though he would change this if he could, they’re comforted that Eva’s organs could be a miracle for someone else’s baby.

His Facebook post was liked more than 14,000 times and shared more than 5,000 times. He told the Huffington Post that he’s glad he shared it, so he could get a chance to talk about not only his wife, but his child.

“We won’t get to brag about her grades or how pretty her hair is,” he said. “This is what we get to tell people about, and we want to take advantage of it.”